Alberta welcomes a new premier next week when Jim Prentice is officially sworn in. As part of his promised different style of government, I urge him to finally and fairly make right the devastation that continues to hauntingly depress flood-ravaged residents in my riding.

EDMONTON — Alberta’s surplus is forecast to grow by $300 million to nearly $1.4 billion this year, enabling the province to slash $2.8 billion in planned borrowing for its capital plan, Finance Minister Doug Horner said Wednesday. “We’re investing more cash into building infrastructure, which is reducing the amount of money we’re borrowing,” he said as he released the province’s first quarter fiscal update at the legislature. “Albertans have told this government loud and clear that we must continue to build the infrastructure to meet the demand for schools, hospitals and roads that we need now.”

Finance Minister Doug Horner clearly had responsibility for the provincial government’s aircraft fleet when it was used inappropriately by former premier Alison Redford, says Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice. Although Horner has claimed he was only responsible for air fleet policy and the bookings of planes, Prentice said in an interview Wednesday he believes the buck stopped with him.

EDMONTON — A former Tory finance minister says Doug Horner’s refusal to take responsibility for Alison Redford’s misuse of government aircraft is a “total cop-out.” Lloyd Snelgrove, who served as finance minister and treasury board president under premier Ed Stelmach, said he is “totally disappointed” with the current finance minister’s response to the controversy that saw premier Alison Redford resign her seat in the Alberta legislature last week.

Opposition MLAs and PC leadership rivals demanded more answers from Doug Horner — and Tory leadership candidate Jim Prentice — about a confidential email the finance minister sent to government members about the travel spending scandal. Horner sent a note on Saturday to more than 40 Tory MLAs who support Prentice’s leadership campaign, indicating the finance minister knows some caucus colleagues want him to resign due to his department’s role in allowing former premier Alison Redford and her office to misuse government planes.

In an email sent to the majority of Alberta’s PC caucus — a copy of which was obtained by the Herald — Horner said he will not step down in the aftermath of an explosive report by Alberta’s auditor general that revealed rampant abuse of government planes by Redford and her staff.

A personal appeal from Doug Horner to his Progressive Conservative MLAs suggests the embattled finance minister is facing calls to resign from within his own caucus because of his role in the travel spending scandal that helped topple former premier Alison Redford. In an email sent to the majority of Alberta’s PC caucus — a copy of which was obtained by the Herald — Horner said he will not step down in the aftermath of an explosive report by Alberta’s auditor general that revealed rampant abuse of government planes by Redford and her staff.

Alison Redford enlisted government planes for personal and PC party use during her 29 months in the premier’s office and the money she has repaid doesn’t cover the cost of the flights, says Alberta’s auditor general.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation turned back political time Monday, launching a new debt clock in an attempt to shame the Progressive Conservative government into reversing its plan to borrow billions of dollars to pay for public infrastructure. The digital device, which tracks the growth of the provincial debt, harkens back to the debt clock used by the Laurence Decore-led Liberals in the 1993 provincial election.

Alberta’s auditor general takes another swing at Finance Minister Doug Horner’s presentation of the budget and criticizes the PC government’s oversight of contracted surgeries in his July report. In the report released Tuesday, Merwan Saher said the budget documents Horner released last month at the end of the last fiscal year contain information that Albertans should have been told at the beginning of the year when the budget was first presented in the legislature.

EDMONTON — After five years of provincial deficits, Alberta is back in the black, says Finance Minister Doug Horner. Higher-than-expected energy prices, record Heritage fund income and increased tax revenue transformed last year’s forecast $1.97-billion deficit into a $755-million surplus, Horner said Monday as he released the 2013-14 annual report.

While flood waters surged through southern Alberta a year ago, public money flowed like the province’s roaring rivers as the Progressive Conservative government grappled with a disaster of unprecedented magnitude. But critics say the flood blurred the lines around spending, raising questions over whether due diligence and accountability were also washed away as the government signed up companies to deliver services in the aftermath of the deluge.

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